Ed,

It’s true, a flying fox colony in full voice really is a force of nature. It is the sound of Australia just as much as the MCG on Grand Final day or a Kimberly lightning storm. As someone who volunteers in a Grey-headed flying fox camp all year (and raises orphan bat pups) I know how vocal the bats can be ‘Unwelcome Neighbours Ruling the Roost’ (CVI 9/2/22).

Parts of the camp with pre-reproductive “teenagers” roughly 1-3 years old, are especially noisy at present: why sleep when you could be talking? Look for quietly sleeping adults keeping their distance. The camp is excited and noisy at fly-out time and again at fly-in when they return before dawn – there’s your prize roosting branch to regain. Again, the camp is noisy and musty in March-April (mating season) when the boys rub a scent from their shoulders onto branches, shout-a-lot, display their assets, and try to attract bat ladies (with varying success). The camp quietens right down May onwards.

The Grey-headed flying fox’s normal migration south has been disrupted by the 2019-20 mega-fires in NSW and Victoria. They arrive in an area the size of England to find no forest and no food (nectar, pollen & fruit) – they can’t get through. Some will starve and many will turn around and seek an alternative (Grafton?). With a total decline of over ninety five percent since 1900 the Grey-headed flying fox is IUCN listed as Endangered with extinction. Forest building is their job. Like big bees they pollinate, and seed disperse over 100 species of native trees, so they have a critical ecological role. They are why our eucalypts open their flowers and produce their nectar at night. Myriad bird and mammal species rely on the bats` work. It might be asked: What is our ecological role?

What do we do to help the natural world?

Grafton’s bats are Melbourne’s bats and vice-versa. They will resume their Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide migrations as soon as they can. In the meantime, I’d request understanding for our Aussie battlers and remember, they also would like things to go back to the way they were before – before European arrival and the loss of their camps, forests, and human caused climate change. To say “we don’t want them here” is to say “go away” to indigenous Australia and we just cannot afford that attitude anymore. As ancient Australians the bats are entitled to their entire range and it’s up to us newcomers to learn to live with them and assist their survival even if means having to turn up the TV or wear ear plugs occasionally. Bats unwelcome? I think not. Grafton is bigger than that.  

Lawrence Pope

President: Friends of Bats & Bushcare Inc.

North Carlton, Victoria